Event Date: 5 December 2014
Royal Asiatic Society
Stephenson Way
London NW1 2HD
The Royal Asiatic Society presents:
Nick Fielding
Thomas and Lucy Atkinson and their travels in Central Asia
In February 1848 the explorer and artist Thomas Witlam Atkinson left Moscow with his new bride, Lucy, on a journey that would last for almost seven years. During the course of their remarkable 40,000-mile journey they visited parts of Siberia and Central Asia that had never been seen before by Europeans. This talk, by journalist and author Nick Fielding, will describe the Atkinsons’ foray into present-day Kazakhstan, where they spent almost a year in the most remote outpost of the Russian Empire – and where Lucy gave birth to their only child. He will describe his visit this summer to some of the places described by the Atkinsons and put their journey into the context of nineteenth century great power politics.
Nick Fielding is a former senior reporter on The Sunday Times and was chief investigative reporter on the Mail on Sunday. He now works as a reporter for the investigative news website Exaro. He was launch editor for the online magazine, China Outlook, and he writes the Circling the Lions Den blog about Afghanistan.
Introduction by Dr Alison Otha (Director, RAS):
Talk:
Thanks by His Excellency Mr Erzhan Kazykhanov, the Kazakh Ambassador:
Accompanying images:
